Program desktop placements?

[RangerDude]

I use xfce4 as WM.
I wondered a bit about what actually decides where a program opens on the desktop.
Some programs seem to remember their location, like xmms. Other, really don't care about where they land on the desktop, like abiword.
I always need to move and resize abiword before use. I would be great if it wasn't necessary.

What decides where and in what size a program open?
The program itself, the WM or XFree?

[dice]

You can use the --geometry option to specify AbiWord's size and position when it loads up. For instance abiword --geometry 800x600+200+200 causes the AbiWord window to be sized to 800x600 and appear 200 pixels to the right and 200 pixels down from the top left of the screen.

[RangerDude]

Thanks!
I didn't know geomerty worked on abiword. I know it works with aterm. Is geometry a X feature or is it just the applications own?

[Cossins]

[RangerDude]

Ok- thanks.